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Monday, January 30, 2012

Little Stitches

Way back when (it seems like ages ago) Stitch Magazine gave me an excuse to spend some time needle in hand. Their "Sewing Unplugged" focus on hand stitching was originally planned for the Winter 2011 issue. But it happened to land in Spring instead, so I've waited until now to share these projects.

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I try to propose projects to magazines that I would like to make anyways. At the time of their call for submissions, I had just learned how to work with metal clasp purse frames. The small canvas of a coin purse seemed ideal for some handwork, so I sent Stitch these project mockups along with my description of the project.

There's nothing very exciting about these mockups, but I know that many of you are interested in working with magazines, so I thought I'd show you some of the materials I send with my submissions. To submit your work to a magazine, find the "submissions" info page on their website to learn about what kind of work they'd like to feature. Usually, you'll work within a theme like "Sewing Unplugged" and (loosely) within the colors they suggest for that theme.

I believe I thought they'd want one or the other, but they asked me to make both versions of the coin purse. Alrighty then. I got my frames from While Baby Naps. She ships from the US and also carries Gutermann glue, which works quite well. I'll admit that gluing the fabric into the frame takes guts, but it's nothing you can't perfect with a couple of tries. Definitely make a test project before gluing in your hand stitched version!

The seed stitch purse was my favorite to make because there's no right or wrong way to tease out those stitches. My background fabric is a Moda crossweave in blue-white. Moda crossweaves (also at Marmalade Fabrics) are a heavier weight than quilting cotton, as opposed to the lighter weight Kaffe Fassett shot cottons. I think I prefer the crossweaves since my shot cottons tend to stay wrinkled after prewashing. Maybe I just need a better iron?

The Seed Stitch coin purse turned out much as I expected. I think she's pretty.

But in this shot she kind of looks like a hippo? I don't know. That Kona pacific sure does delight the eyes, though.

The Rainbow coin purse didn't have quite the slant I had mocked up, but she'll do. I used multi-colored embroidery floss on natural linen.

The Garden Party lining (an out of print fabric by Anna Maria Horner) is my favorite part. Is that bad? I just love the colors in this print! For how-to's see Stitch Magazine's Spring 2012 issue, available at Bloomerie.

So now these little purses are home... and I don't know what to do with them. I actually have a stockpile of crafted treasures that need to find homes, so I know I should open an Etsy shop to move some things along, but the idea of pricing and listing my things makes me nervous. I'll admit it - I'm afraid of failure. It's so vulnerable to put things out there as good enough to sale and then wait, wait, wait to see what happens. Maybe after Curves Class I'll tackle that beast?

I get that! Many of my friends have encouraged me to start an Etsy shop because they love the gifts I make for them, but my fear is that when someone buys something you are open to criticism. Weird I know! I think your work is amazing and I have wished many times to purchase your beautiful things. You inspire me all the time.

I love the first one. Such a great project. How do you make the mockups - do you have a specific software.

You should definitely open an Etsy store - what is the worst that can happen, that you don't sell them and they stay in your house. How is that different from now? And anyway it won't happen because you will sell them!

I've never known what to do with things like that either, because they are one time deals that i don't mass produce. They do make great silent auction items though! People bid high on 'famous things' : )

Selling things on Etsy is kind of like winning the lottery. You can never win if you don't buy the lottery ticket.

Loved the purses when I was reading my copy of Stitch, but one of the things that really caught my eye in the magazine was the sashiko coasters. I've been toying with trying sashiko for some time, but didn't want to commit to a large scale project. I like the idea of a small coaster or mug rug to start.